“Aggiornamento.” When is the last time you heard that word in church? If you were born after the 1960s, it may not be familiar to you at all. But Pope John XXIII made it a word heard ‘round the world on January 25, 1959, when he announced that he would call an ecumenical council.
“Aggiornamento” is Italian and it means “to update.” When Pope John used it in reference to the then-upcoming Second Vatican Council, he meant that the Church needed to be updated. Specifically, the Church needed to adapt to the times. Pope Paul VI, who would continue the council after Pope John’s death, called aggiornamento, “the guiding principle of the Ecumenical Council.”
It is not surprising then that the terms “adapt” and “adaptation” appear frequently in the 16 documents of Vatican II. They show up most often in “Sacrosanctum Concilium” which is The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, and in “Perfectae caritatis” on the Adaptation (there’s that word) and Renewal of Religious Life. They can also be found in other documents, such as those on bishops, priests, the apostolate of the laity and the Church’s missionary activity. “Gaudium et Spes,” The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, is all about adaptation.
When the council fathers called for adaptation, they were not advocating willy-nilly acceptance of every whim of the world. Nor were they advocating change in the unchangeable truths of the Christian Creed. In fact, they often paired aggiornamento with another Italian word — “ressourcement.” Ressourcement in the Vatican II documents means the return to the ancient Christian sources, especially the Scriptures and other writings of the early Church. Aggiornamento cannot travel without ressourcement.
Thus, adaptation in the life of the Church, whether at the universal, national, diocesan, parish or family level, must always accord with authentic faith. According to the Vatican II documents, what is always adapted, but never abandoned, is the Church’s “venerable tradition,” its “ancient and venerable treasures.” These gifts are adapted to different times, groups, regions, customs, languages, peoples and circumstances. They are adapted for pastoral needs, for needs of the apostolate and evangelization and for effective renewal.
In the words of the council fathers, adaptations must be “useful,” “necessary,” “legitimate,” “suitable,” “genuine” and “wise.” They are to be made with “circumspection.” But sometimes, they are to be “profound” or even “radical.” They are always made under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of the Church.
Adaptation in the life of the Church is not a once and for all thing and so it could be said that adaptability is a necessary characteristic of a Catholic Christian, maybe even a virtue. Right now, various circumstances in our own diocese challenge us to be adaptable. For example, changing demographics is a major factor prompting adaptations in our parishes. Membership in some parishes is decreasing. Likewise, the number of priests able to minister in the parishes has declined. These realities contribute to necessary reconfigurations in parish structures. Adaptation.
Likewise, vocations to religious life began declining in some countries in the 1950s. By now, the membership of numerous religious communities is primarily elderly. Rather than put all their remaining energy into administrative tasks, these religious women and men have chosen to entrust those functions to other people and to focus instead on living their religious charism intensely until their last member enters eternal life. They call it “coming to completion” or “coming to fulfillment.” It is not what these religious envisioned for their communities when they were young, but they have adapted gracefully to the circumstances thrust upon them.
The world does not exclude any of us from changing circumstances. The Holy Spirit enables us to adapt to them and even emerge with renewed faith.
Aggiornamento. Embrace it for the life of the Church.
Above photo: Courtesy of Benedictine Sister Nancy Bauer.
Thank you for sharing🌹